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Weeekend advance: Did Lance Stroll's father buy Williams? Three Canadians to make debuts in big-league NASCAR races

Norris McDonald says that if Lawrence Stroll really spent $80 million to buy his son a seat in F1, he already owns the team in question – Williams. And why not? It’s happened before.

Canadian driver Lance Stroll (right) smiles as he sits with Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas answering questions from members of the media during the announcement by Williams Martini Racing of their driver line up for the 2017 Formula One World Championship. (ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

If Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll really spent $80 million to get his son Lance a Formula One seat with Williams F1 in 2017, I suggest that Lawrence Stroll owns Williams.

Why not? Sir Frank has sold his team to a Canadian before. It’s not as if it’s never happened.

Stroll Sr. is too sharp a businessman to throw $80 million into the ether. His son’s racing career is a smart investment, of course, but at this point he’s got to get something more tangible in return than making Lance famous.

Two years ago, Lawrence Stroll was all over motor racing websites because Bernie Ecclestone was trying to convince him to purchase about 12 per cent of a company called Delta Topco, which really owns Formula One. CVC Capital Partners owned 35 per cent of Delta Topco before Liberty Media got involved in recent months. The 12 per cent that Lawrence Stroll was mulling over was worth, at the time, about $1.5 billion.

Stroll apparently took a pass on that and then was linked to the purchase of the Sauber F1 team, which was either bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy. He also apparently turned that down.

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That fact that Lawrence Stroll - who owns Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant race track and made his money through fashion brands Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors - was linked so closely to F1 as a corporate entity and also seen as a potential team owner means he is financially able to play in that league.

The fact that he was nosing around, and rubbing shoulders with racing people who count, also suggests he was looking to buy in. He just had to find the perfect property and Williams could be it.

Sauber would not have been a good bet, nor would any of the lower-second or third-tier teams. Those guys have no hope. And the top teams are not for sale. Lawrence enrolled Lance in the Ferrari Driver Academy where he was mentored by long-time Ferrari tactician Luca Baldisserri. When it became apparent that Ferrari wasn't particularly interested in elevating Driver Academy graduates to the big team, Lawrence took Baldisserri and his son and went looking for a team where they would not only fit in but be No. 1.

Sir Frank Williams, who founded Williams Grand Prix Engineering Ltd., which currently races in F1 as Williams Martini Racing, sold his team once before, in 1976, to another Canadian, Walter Wolfe. Sir Frank agreed in the beginning to stay on as team manager.

If it happened once before, it could happen again. Formula One is not for the faint of heart; you have to be loaded to survive - as more than 100 individuals and corporations have discovered to their horror in the last 50 or 60 years. You have to be able to turn on a tap and let all the money that pours out of it go right down the drain. You can’t lie awake at night worrying about where your next dollar or pound or ruble will come from. There are not many people who can do that. Lawrence Stroll would appear to be one of them. In 2016, maybe Frank Williams can’t any longer.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Williams GP Engineering, which Sir Frank started after he split from Wolf. It’s probably not a good year to announce a full or partial sale. And while not that many people can afford to be an owner in F1, not that many people know how to successfully manage and operate an F1 team, either. Sir Frank is one of them.

So Lawrence Stroll could very well own Williams and Frank and his daughter Claire could be running it for him. A scenario like that makes sense, particularly if your kid is going to be one of the drivers.

Or maybe not.

As the universe unfolds, I’m sure we’ll find out the real story, one way or the other.

I thought I would float this possibility, however, because of alol the stories around about this incredible sum of money being spent so Lance Stroll can become a Formula One driver. It’s not fair to him or to his father. Toto Wolff said Lance can drive. It’s not his fault that his father is a brilliant businessman and, because of this brilliance, in a position to make things possible for his son.

I wonder how much of what is being reported has its basis in envy.

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By the way, Felipe Massa will drive his final Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend, in a Williams, of course. And while Nico Rosberg can wrap up the world championship at Sao Paulo Sunday, I have a feeling it won’t happen and that the title fight will go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi next week.

TSN, meantime, will have all the race action on TSN2 at 11:55 Sunday morning. Qualifying is on Saturday at 11:55 on TSN1, 4 and 5. All the pre-qualifying, pre-pre-qualifying, post-qualifying and post-race reporting and analysis can be found on those channels, starting about an hour earlier and continuing afterward.

Okay, three Canadians are going to be making their big-league NASCAR debuts at Phoenix this weekend - DJ Kennington in the Sprint Cup race, Alex Labbe in the Infiniti Series race and Dominique Van Wieringen in the Camping Wordl Series truck race.

Gord Craig, who does a bang-up job communicating about the Northern Provincial Pipelines-sponsored Late-Model Series in Alberta, sent me the following release earlier this week:

“No matter where he finishes on Saturday night, two-time Canadian NASCAR Series Champion DJ Kennington will be able to say that he has raced against the best stock car drivers in the world.

Kennington, from St. Thomas, Ont., will make his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut at Phoenix International Raceway driving the Northern Provincial Pipelines Ltd./Clark Construction No. 55 Chevrolet.

The race car is based out of the Premium Motorsports shop in Huntersville, N.C. "They offered me a shot at the Cup car (in Phoenix) after I ran their truck at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park back in September."

Kennington finished 14th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the Bowmanville, Ont., circuit. On Oct. 30, again driving for Premium Motorsports, Kennington finished 23rd in the truck race at Martinsville Speedway.

"To get an opportunity to compete in a Cup race is a chance of a lifetime. It's a dream come true for me,” he said.

With 49 NASCAR Xfinity Series race starts, Kennington is no stranger to competing south of the border.

"The only track on the NASCAR circuit we've haven't raced is Pocono. I have a lot of track time in Phoenix, which is good, but I have spent absolutely zero time in a Cup car."

His first time on the track in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car will be tomorrow (Friday). "I'm only going to have about an hour of practice before we have to go qualify,” he said. “The practice (before qualifying) will probably work out to maybe about 30 laps."

Right now, 40 cars are registered for the Phoenix event. As of this season, Cup Series races start 40 (or fewer) cars, down from the 43 that started for years.

"Just to be able to be there with the likes of Kyle Busch and Jimmy Johnson is something else,” Kennington said. “It's a little intimidating. These guys are the best in the world."

Kennington's family will be joining him at the track in Phoenix.

"To have my family with me at this race is very special,” he said. “I've been very fortunate to be able to meet people along the way that have helped me get to where I am today."

Alberta business owners Dwight Kennedy (Northern Provincial Pipelines Ltd.) and Kevin Clark (Clark Construction) will be two people in attendance, cheering Kennington on.

Both Kennedy and Clark are making their NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debuts as race car sponsors.”

Thank you, Gord, for covering all the bases. And good luck to DJ, who’s a class act on the Canadian NASCAR Pinty’s Series championship circuit.

The Phoenix round (NBC/TSN2 at 2:30 p.m. Sunday) is the last race before the winner-takes-all championship series that will be held next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in south Florida.

Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards have two of the four remaining playoff spots locked up. Kevin Harvick has won at Phoenix eight times (count ‘em, 8 times) and could very well win a ninth, leaving just one spot open for one of Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin. Of course, somebody like Kurt Busch could win the race and thow everything up in the air - as Edwards, who was running last in the playoff standings, did last week.

Meantime, Dominique Van Wieringen of Amherstburg, Ont., will make her Camping World Series trucks debut at Phoenix Friday (tomorrow) night. She will be aboard the No. 62 Durobyte Ford F-150 entered by Rette Jones Racing, which ran her in this year’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, in partnership with Young’s Motorsports.

She ended the K&N Series year with three top-fives and 10 top-10 finishes with a best result of third. Jones, who’s a crew chief in the ARCA Racing Series, says the goal is to get some laps for his female driver and to “see the checkered flag.”

In a story about her by Stephanie Wallcraft in Toronto Star Wheels, Van Wieringen got her racing start in motocross but was put into cars after her brother was hurt.

After racing karts for five years, she went late-model racing in 2011 and scored her first victory in that class at a speedway in Michigan. The very next year, the won the Outlaw Super Late Model championship in that state.

As well as racing, she’s studying mechanical engineering at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.

Interestingly, none of the releases that I could find about her moving into the truck series at Phoenix this weekend mentions that she’s a Canadian. I suppose she’s living in the States now but I find it curious that it’s not mentioned anywhere (except here, of course).

In any event, that truck race can be seen on FOX Sports Racing Friday nigt at 10 p.m.

Finally, Alex Labbe of Ste-Albert, Que., will start a run of five NASCAR Xfinity Series races, beginning at Phoenix this weekend and carrying on into 2017. He also will contest the entire NASCAR Pinty’s Series season in Canada next year as well. His sponsors, Can-Am, Kappa and Cyclops Gear are supporting him across the board. You can watch Alex and the other Xfinity Series stars in that race on Saturday night at 7:30 on TSN2.

Something else on FOX Sports Racing weekend will be the last NHRA drag-racing meet of the season and it’s taking place in Pomona, Calif., on Sunday. The telecast starts at 4 p.m. Funny Car competitor Alexis DeJoria won’t be racing because she’s been diagnosed as suffering from a concussion. Jeff Arend will take her place.

Head injuries are among the most puzzling because the victim often doesn’t realize they’re ill until later. Sports car, Indy car and Formula One driver Mark Donohue died in 1976 at the Austrian GP as the result of a crash during morning practice. He got out of the car, said he was fine, ate lunch and then started to feel ill. He died that night.

DoJoria finished her qualifying race last Saturday at Las Vegas but then crashed. She got out of the car and said she was fine. That evening, she started to feel the effects and when she woke up Sunday morning she knew she was sick.

Cayden Lapcevichdidn’t look out of place at Flamboro Speedway last Saturday night as the Hamilton-area race track finally brought the curtain down on the 2016 season. In three features for the Grisdale Late Models, the 2016 NASCAR Pinty’s Series champion won one and finished third in the other two. Shawn Chenoweth won the other two features and JR Fitzpatrick finished second in two of the three.

Ohsweken Speedway has extended the deadline to purchase tickets for this year’s awards banquet till this Saturday, Nov. 12. Top-10 finishers in all divisions are reminded that they have to attend in order to get their trophies and, more important, pick up the cash. The banquet will be held at Carmen’s Banquet Centre in Hamilton on Friday, Nov. 18.

Fans of the IMSA sports cars are in for a treat next summer when the tour arrives at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Mercedes-Benz USA and Mercedes-AMG announced this week they will enter a two-car team in the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars will feature normally-aspirated 6,3-litre V8 engines and compete in the GT Daytona Class. Drivers will be Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette.

If you take in a movie this weekend, particularly in Halton, don’t be surprised if James Hinchcliffe’s face pops up on the screen. It’s Crime Prevention Week and James is helping the Halton Regional Police Service raise awareness about distracted driving. Hinchcliffe, a.k.a. The Joker (he was dressed and made up like Batman’s nemesis on this week’s Dancing With The Stars, is an Oakville native, hence the Halton police connection.

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